Timex Turns Back Clock

TV-Heavy Campaign Spoofs Classic Product Demos CHICAGO-After a year away from broadcast advertising, Timex returns to television this week with a wink to the past. A TV and print campaign from Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis, for Timex's Turn 'n' Pull alarm watch spoofs the kind of product demonstration ads the client began using in the '50s. "It seemed natural to go back to the product demonstration," said Fallon group creative director Bruce Bildsten. "It was [Timex's] heritage, but it also fit the product really well." Three new TV spots-all shot in a '50s style with jumpy editing-feature a fictional spokesman named Michael Landrum and his white-coated assistant demonstrating how to set the watch's alarm. The process is so simple, the duo compares it to waving, walking and chewing gum. The tagline: "So simple, we should've thought of it years ago." The Middlebury, Conn., company introduced the Turn 'n' Pull watch last year, touting it as the first analog timepiece with an accurate alarm. Print ads for the launch featured cartoon drawings depicting how the watch could eliminate the need to apologize. The ads were tagged, "More convenient than any excuses." That campaign was a bit "obtuse," said Susie Watson, Timex's director of advertising and public relations. The new effort is a better demonstration of the watch's attributes, she said. Timex this year will spend more than $6 million on ads for the Turn 'n' Pull watch, Watson said. Two-thirds of that budget will go to TV, she added. ƒ

TV-Heavy Campaign Spoofs Classic Product Demos CHICAGO-After a year away from broadcast advertising, Timex returns to television this week with a wink to the past. A TV and print campaign from Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis, for Timex's Turn 'n' Pull alarm watch spoofs the kind of product demonstration ads the client began using in the '50s. "It seemed natural to go back to the product demonstration," said Fallon group creative director Bruce Bildsten. "It was [Timex's] heritage, but it also fit the product really well." Three new TV spots-all shot in a '50s style with jumpy editing-feature a fictional spokesman named Michael Landrum and his white-coated assistant demonstrating how to set the watch's alarm. The process is so simple, the duo compares it to waving, walking and chewing gum. The tagline: "So simple, we should've thought of it years ago." The Middlebury, Conn., company introduced the Turn 'n' Pull watch last year, touting it as the first analog timepiece with an accurate alarm. Print ads for the launch featured cartoon drawings depicting how the watch could eliminate the need to apologize. The ads were tagged, "More convenient than any excuses." That campaign was a bit "obtuse," said Susie Watson, Timex's director of advertising and public relations. The new effort is a better demonstration of the watch's attributes, she said. Timex this year will spend more than $6 million on ads for the Turn 'n' Pull watch, Watson said. Two-thirds of that budget will go to TV, she added. ƒ